So, You're From Corbin, KY?

This week, while working, I met a man that was an African-American, 43 years of age. He and I became instant friends and he was not taken back by me, until he asked me where I was from. I hesitantly replied, "I'm from Corbin, KY." I am not ashamed of where I am from, but did not want to give off the wrong vibe by saying that particular sentence. This man was originally from Louisville, KY but had lived in many places in our nation...from Chicago to Cali, but he knew all about Corbin and the stereotypes that have been placed there over the years and all that they implied. He, a highly educated man, had read books about it...about my hometown.

I instantly began to think of my freshman year of college. I was sitting in my afternoon Sociology101 course, and the professor played a video, a video of Corbin, KY. As I watched, I saw people that I had knew and even some I had went to school with my entire young life. I was mortified by what they said. If you went to Corbin, you know/knew them, too....it was unbelievable the words they spoke. After the video, my professor asked the class if there was anyone present that was from Corbin, KY....I did not raise my hand, I did not acknowledge the comment as I was saddened by what had just unfolded in front of myself and my peers, and regretfully horribly embarrassed as to what my hometown represented that day in the fall of 1992.

Racism comes in many forms. I faced a battle of my own in the weeks that were ahead. The African-American young women on my dorm floor had preconceived ideas about me, when they realized that I was from Corbin, KY, left horrible messages for me on the dry erase board my roommate and I had placed on our door. When I returned to campus after going home for the weekend, I returned to horrendous racial remarks all over the door. It was then that I knew why they thought the things they did...but was not sure why they assumed that I fit that stereotype. I didn't. I never had went to school with any person of color, but it was because I never was given the chance.

This week, while standing in line at my two young children's school, I knew that they saw beyond color. I was so proud to witness their interaction with children of EVERY race. They just saw "friends." Simply, friends.

Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is taught...change your lesson plan friends if the ink in your pen inscribes hate or intolerance.

Tell 'Em Anything You Want To

If you have reviewed any of my blogs, you realize my views on various facets of adult life and learning. Never, until recently, have I ever been scared or afraid of what may lie ahead in my own life. I never had to worry much about stability and my future, until now. Life's uncertainties can be quite complex and perplexing.

I think as a 30 something (back side of 30 actually) we may look at things differently than we used to. Meaning, we have changed over a period of time...what once completely fulfilled us, now seems incomplete. An analogy of this, looking at a glass that once you believed was half full... is now is half empty.

Truth. That's what it is. Looking at something dead on, face to face and deciding if that's where you want to be. Or, looking at something head on and making a decision that that is no longer where you want to be...not for one more minute. Promises broken. Faith no more. Hope is something that you can no longer cling to, for it no longer exists like you once knew it to be.

Here's the kicker, you knew it long ago...years ago perhaps, that this was not right and ignored your own intuition for the thought of the greater good. Hoping on a whim that maybe, just maybe, things would take a turn for the better. But the day never arrived and you know whole heartily, it will not .You finally, after this passage of time, acknowledge it and have moved on and feeling all the better for it. You finally realize that your loyalty and steadfast love is not quite enough to make it "right." That's all you have ever wanted was right...but there is no degree of  normalcy, stability or promise. It is stagnant and it has been that way for longer than you wish to admit. What once you believed in with every fiber or yourself, you now know is unbelievable. That's the truth....this one is for my very best friend and for me as well. We don't tell 'em all the truth, but we know exactly where the truth in the purest form lies.